As we head towards the end of December, you may be starting to think about your exams in January. You have adapted to many new ways of learning this year, including through blended and online, virtual peer support, and engaging with new styles of assessments. We know how daunting some of this has been, and you may be wondering how this may affect your assessment results.
Our assessment, moderation and marking processes are well established, robust and have many layers of checks, which are designed to enable you to succeed and protect the academic standards of your degree. We have captured how this process works in this video:
We are adding a further layer of support for you in the exam board processes this year, as we understand the disruption that the pandemic has caused. Our Examination Boards will be taking these exceptional circumstances into account through internal moderation, external examiners, and Mitigating Circumstances Panels. You can read more about all of the steps and what each of them does, on our website:
- Read more about: Examination boards
We have also made additions to our Mitigating Circumstances Policy to take into account IT failures or internet issues, along with accepting self-certification of absence due to illness. Rest assured however, that as steps will be taken for all students, across all programmes to minimise the academic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, you would only need to submit a claim for Mitigating Circumstances in certain cases. You can read more about mitigating circumstances and the scenarios under which you may need to submit these, on our website:
- Read more about: Mitigating circumstances during the coronavirus pandemic
The University’s Teaching and Learning Group Executive, which includes members of the Students’ Union Executive team, will continue to review our processes to ensure that they remain robust, fair and fit-for-purpose.
You will receive more information on the local arrangements for your January assessments from your programme teams, in the New Year.
Please stay safe over the Christmas break, and enjoy some time to relax before you return to your studies and revision. We wish you every success with your assessments at the end of Semester 1 – and please do get in touch to ask for help and support if you need it.